Labour leader exiled in Vancouver has fraud charges dropped against him by Mexican court (updated)

Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun08.30.2014

Accused of laundering $55 million from his union, Napoleon (Napo) Gomez Urrutia arrived in Vancouver with his wife and two sons in May 2006 after he was removed from his post as head of the National Union of Miners and Metalworkers that February. On Fri., Aug. 29, a Mexican Federal Court of Appeal overturned his arrest warrant and dismissed all criminal charges against him.

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A federal appeal court in Mexico has overturned an outstanding arrest warrant and dropped criminal charges against a controversial Mexican mining union leader exiled in Vancouver for the past eight years after his government accused him of raiding union coffers.

On Friday, three judges from the federal appeal court ruled unanimously that the government didn’t have enough evidence to issue the arrest warrant for Napoleon (Napo) Gomez Urrutia amid claims he masterminded a plot to dissolve a workers’ trust fund and take US$55-million.

“The (court’s decision) is historic, because it proves that reason, truth and justice were always on our side,” Gomez Urrutia said in a triumphant Facebook post.

“It also proves that fortunately our country still has honourable judges and magistrates that won’t bow to pressure or be corrupted.”

Gomez Urrutia arrived in Vancouver with his wife and two sons in May 2006 after he was removed from his post as head of the National Union of Miners and Metalworkers that February.

Urrutia had been highly critical of national labour and safety standards during his tenure, and organized many wildcat strikes. He was replaced shortly after the death of 65 workers in a coal-mining accident that he called “industrial homicide.”

His removal resulted in near chaos in Mexico’s mining sector, and among the country’s labour movement in general, helping boost metal prices on world markets.

Urrutia has said the accusations against him are linked to his criticism of the government.

Urrutia’s case soon became a cause celebre among labour unions in Canada, which held small demonstrations in front of Mexican diplomatic offices shortly after his arrival in Vancouver.

Friday’s decision rendered an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol invalid, the Mexican government confirmed to CNN Espanol.

It is unknown whether Gomez Urrutia plans to return to Mexico.

A representative with the United Steelworkers union confirmed Friday evening that the Oxford-educated union leader had received his Canadian citizenship earlier this year and is still living in East Vancouver. Last year the English version of Gomez Urrutia’s book Collapse of Dignity: The Story of a Mining Tragedy and the Fight Against Greed and Corruption in Mexico cracked the Top 10 in the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list.

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Labour leader exiled in Vancouver has fraud charges dropped against him by Mexican court (updated)

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